III
119THCONGRESS
1
STSESSION S. RES. 36
Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States, States, cities,
Tribal nations, businesses, institutions of higher education, and other
institutions in the United States should work toward achieving the goals
of the Paris Agreement.
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
JANUARY24, 2025
Mr. M
ARKEY(for himself, Mr. DURBIN, Mr. MERKLEY, Mr. WYDEN, Ms.
S
MITH, Mr. SANDERS, Mr. BLUMENTHAL, Mr. VANHOLLEN, Mr.
W
ELCH, Mr. REED, Mr. WHITEHOUSE, Mr. SCHATZ, Mr. BOOKER, Ms.
K
LOBUCHAR, Mr. SCHIFF, Mr. PADILLA, Mr. SCHUMER, Mr. COONS,
Mrs. S
HAHEEN, Mr. KAINE, Ms. ROSEN, and Ms. DUCKWORTH) sub-
mitted the following resolution; which was referred to the Committee on
Foreign Relations
RESOLUTION
Expressing the sense of the Senate that the United States,
States, cities, Tribal nations, businesses, institutions of
higher education, and other institutions in the United
States should work toward achieving the goals of the
Paris Agreement.
Whereas 195 of the 198 parties to the United Nations
Framework Convention on Climate Change have acceded
to the decision by the United Nations Framework Con-
vention on Climate Change’s 21st Conference of Parties
in Paris, France, adopted December 12, 2015 (referred
to in this preamble as the ‘‘Paris Agreement’’);
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•SRES 36 IS
Whereas the Climate Change 2023 Synthesis Report by the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change found
that—
(1) human activity has been the dominant cause of
observed climate change over the past century;
(2) human-caused climate change has led to wide-
spread and rapid changes in the atmosphere, ocean,
cryosphere, and biosphere;
(3) vulnerable communities that have historically
contributed the least to human-caused climate change are
disproportionately affected by its impacts;
(4) adverse impact from human-caused climate
change will continue to intensify;
(5) continued emissions will further impact all com-
ponents of the climate system, and changes in weather
and climate extremes will become larger;
(6) in the near term, global warming is more likely
than not to reach 1.5 degrees Celsius even under low
greenhouse gas emission scenarios;
(7) economic damages from climate change are
present in climate-exposed sectors like agriculture, for-
estry, fishery, energy, and tourism;
(8) global temperatures must be kept below 1.5 de-
grees Celsius above pre-industrialized levels to avoid the
most severe impacts of a changing climate;
(9) limiting global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius
will require rapid, deep, and immediate greenhouse gas
emission reductions; and
(10) deep, rapid, and sustained mitigation and adap-
tation measures between 2020 and 2030 would help to
reduce loss and damage for humans and ecosystems;
Whereas, in 2024, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Ad-
ministration reported 27 disasters that each resulted in
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•SRES 36 IS
at least $1,000,000,000 in damages and, in total, an esti-
mated amount of $182,700,000,000 in damages;
Whereas the National Aeronautics and Space Administration
determined that in 2020, the decrease in greenhouse gas
emissions in the United States was due to the economic
recession associated with the impacts of the coronavirus
pandemic;
Whereas, in 2021 and 2022, carbon dioxide emissions from
fossil fuel consumption in the United States rose 8 per-
cent relative to 2020 and 1 percent relative to 2021, re-
turning to pre-pandemic levels;
Whereas, in 2022, the Energy Information Administration re-
ported that renewable energy generated more power than
coal for the first time in the United States;
Whereas, in 2023, approximately 40 percent of the global
electricity supply was provided by zero-carbon sources,
according to the International Energy Agency;
Whereas, in 2024, automakers sold more than 1,300,000
electric vehicles in the United States, making up 8 per-
cent of all new vehicles sales;
Whereas 32 States have released a climate plan;
Whereas 29 States and the District of Columbia adopted a
renewable portfolio standard;
Whereas 36 States and the District of Columbia have adopt-
ed clean vehicle policies;
Whereas 24 States and the District of Columbia have adopt-
ed greenhouse gas emissions targets;
Whereas 33 States have adopted energy efficiency resource
standards;
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Whereas 11 States have implemented the Regional Green-
house Gas Initiative to construct a market-based system
that sets a cap on emissions from the electric sector that
declines by 3 percent per year from 2021 through 2030,
with a current goal of reducing power sector emissions
among the participating States by 30 percent below 2020
levels by 2030;
Whereas the State of California has a strategy to reduce
greenhouse gas emissions to 48 percent below 1990 levels
by 2030 and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 85 per-
cent by 2045;
Whereas, in the United States, 90 cities, 11 counties, 2
States, and the District of Columbia have adopted 100
percent clean and renewable energy goals, and 217 com-
panies have committed to 100 percent renewable energy;
Whereas, since Public Law 117–168 (commonly known as the
‘Inflation Reduction Act’), the largest United States in-
vestment in climate and clean energy in history was
passed in August 2022, clean energy companies have an-
nounced or advanced nearly 750 projects, more than
$422,000,000,000 in investments, and created more than
400,000 new clean energy jobs;
Whereas more than 85 percent of the investments from the
Inflation Reduction Act were made in counties with below
average college graduation rates and more than 75 per-
cent of investments were made in areas with below aver-
age median household incomes;
Whereas the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (Public
Law 117–58) and the Inflation Reduction Act are esti-
mated to create up to 1,700,000 new jobs by 2030 and
2,900,000 jobs by 2035;
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Whereas, in 2024, the United States submitted a new nation-
ally determined contribution, in accordance with the
Paris Agreement, to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in
the United States by 61 to 66 percent below 2005 levels
by 2035, which is made possible in part by programs and
investments supported by the Inflation Reduction Act
and the Infrastructure Law Investment and Jobs Act
(Public Law 117–58);
Whereas, in 2023, more money was invested in solar energy
than in oil for the first time globally;
Whereas, in 2023, more than 8,300,000 people in the United
States worked in the energy sector in all 50 States, in-
cluding in industries relating to wind energy, solar en-
ergy, energy efficiency, clean vehicles, and energy stor-
age;
Whereas, in 2023, approximately 495,871 people in the
United States were working in the solar and wind indus-
tries, including roofers, electricians, and steel workers;
Whereas the 2024 U.S. Energy and Employment Jobs Re-
port published by the Department of Energy found that
new clean energy jobs are outpacing the rest of the en-
ergy sector and United States economy by more than 2
times;
Whereas the vehicle emissions standards updated by the En-
vironmental Protection Agency in 2024 for vehicle model
years 2027 through 2032 are predicted—
(1) to provide $13,000,000,000 in annual health
benefits from air pollution reduction;
(2) to save drivers nearly $6,000 over the lifetime of
a new vehicle from fuel and maintenance costs; and
(3) to prevent 25,000 premature deaths;
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Whereas the America Is All In coalition—
(1) has evolved from the 2017 launched We Are Still
In Coalition to become the largest subnational climate co-
alition in the United States composed of States, Tribal
nations, cities, businesses, universities, healthcare organi-
zations, faith groups, and cultural institutions;
(2) has committed to uphold the Paris Agreement
and formally reaffirmed that commitment at the recent
ninth anniversary of the landmark Paris Agreement;
(3) represents approximately
3
⁄4of the gross domes-
tic product of the United States and
2
⁄3of the population
of the United States through city and State partners;
and
(4) has committed to supporting subnational climate
leaders as they build climate resilience and sustainable
supply chains;
Whereas on the day before President Donald Trump an-
nounced the withdrawal of the United States from the
Paris Agreement on June 1, 2017, Hua Chunying,
spokesperson of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the
People’s Republic of China, which is the world’s current
largest emitter of greenhouse gas emissions, said ‘‘China
will stay committed to upholding and promoting the glob-
al governance on climate change, and take an active part
in the multilateral process on climate change and pro-
mote green, low-carbon and sustainable growth of the
world.’’;
Whereas, according to the International Energy Agency,
China has made more than $800,000,000,000 in foreign
investment in clean energy and energy storage infrastruc-
ture around the world since 2016; and
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Whereas the United States needs both a fully engaged Fed-
eral Government and States, cities, businesses, and all
subnational actors working together to reduce emissions,
avoid the worst effects of climate change, and compete in
the global clean energy market: Now, therefore, be it
Resolved, That it is the sense of the Senate that the 1
United States— 2
(1) should remain a party to the Paris Agree-3
ment; 4
(2) should support policies at the Federal, 5
State, and local level that promote the reduction of 6
global warming pollution and aim to meet the objec-7
tives of the Paris Agreement; and 8
(3) should support the clear intents and efforts 9
of businesses, investors, and whole-of-American-soci-10
ety to take action on climate change. 11
Æ
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